Rajiv Kumar steps down as Niti Aayog Vice Chairman; Suman Bery replaces him

Suman Bery is non-resident fellow at Bruegel, a European think tank specializing in economics.

Rajiv Kumar has stepped down as Niti Aayog Vice Chairman and will be replaced by Suman K Bery, a former director general of National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

Bery is now non-resident fellow at Bruegel, a European think tank specializing in economics. Kumar took over as vice chairman in August 2017 after his predecessor Arvind Panagariya left NITI Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission.

Bery will join from May 1, 2022, according to a government order. 

Some reports said the government is reviewing the Aayog’s work after it was formed by disbanding the Planning Commission in 2015. Sources said bringing new faces and ideas into the set up seems to a underlying theme of the review. Kumar’s exit could be seen in the same light, though there is no official confirmation for this.

There is no clarity whether other members of the Aayog will be asked to step down.

Kumar holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford and a PhD from Lucknow University. He was a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR). He has authored several books on Indian economy and national security.

Earlier, he was Secretary General of the FICCI and had also served as Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board between 2006 and 2008. He has also served as the chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and held senior positions in the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.